There are plenty of online forums full of trade rumors, but it’s surprising when one turns out not only to be accurate, but to be the first source of information on a story. That’s what happened on r/whitesox (the Reddit subreddit dedicated to the Chicago White Sox) Wednesday night, though, with users KatyPerrysBootyHole and WetButt23 discussing the Jose Quintana trade to the cross-town Cubs for four prospects long before it happened, while media reports only came out after the trade was announced by the team. Here’s the start of the Reddit users’ conversation, as screenshotted by SB Nation’s Grant Brisbee:
Source: Jose Quintana to Cubs for four players. KatyPerrysBootyHole had it first (via wetbutt23) https://t.co/DIIsLfzeHk pic.twitter.com/qbbP94VuRN
— Grant Brisbee (@GrantBrisbee) July 13, 2017
There were then follow-up posts with more details:
This all came out before anyone in the media got it, leading to a really amusing correction to J.J. Stankevitz’s CSN Chicago piece on how secretive these teams were:
…That nobody was able to get anything out about this story until both teams announced the trade is what’s maybe the most surprising thing about Thursday’s crosstown blockbuster. The news broke by the White Sox and Cubs both sending tweets and press releases.
…In today’s digital age, it’s rare — maybe even unprecedented — for a trade of this magnitude to fly under the radar until it’s finalized and announced. But the White Sox and Cubs managed to do just that while pulling off a trade that could alter the landscape of baseball in this city for the next decade.
Correction: While no national media had this story, a Reddit user named “wetbutt23” had it last night. CSNChicago.com apologizes to wetbutt23 for the error.
But ESPN’s piece had no mentions of the Reddit sleuths, and their Bottom Line ticker sadly didn’t credit anyone; it would have been something to see “first reported by KatyPerrysBootyHole and wetbutt23 there.” It’s not a real ESPN sourcing controversy (which they’ve been much better about in recent years), but it is funny that other media outlets will mention this and they won’t. Maybe it’s for the best, though, given some of what you can find in these users’ Reddit histories, especially when it comes to a thread of “What is the most offensive joke in your arsenal?”, a discussion of third-wave feminism, and a discussion of the Big Bang theory (not the show) being proposed by a Catholic priest:
We regret to inform you that anonymous accounts named after butts don’t just break trades, they also sometimes make problematic internet comments.
[Grant Brisbee on Twitter]
